


The Dragon Riders of Phyre

by cranewave



Series: the Dragon Riders Of Phyre [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: A collection of short stories, Dragons, Fantasy (genre), Gen, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-07
Updated: 2017-12-07
Packaged: 2018-12-13 16:40:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11764050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cranewave/pseuds/cranewave
Summary: Blue skies. Vast, open, free, belonging to the angels and dragons and other creatures of the heavens. I am Sam. My dragon is Shaderynn. We are the masters of the sky. The Dragon Riders fly, teach, and champion. We are dragon and Rider.There are many stories of the Dragon Riders. Not all of them are true. Not all of them are false. Many just are. However, the tales of the Dragon Riders are incomplete. I am writing this journal to gather untold stories of heroism and valor, and show them to the world.The stories herein are transcriptions of tales told by Riders and dragons to me upon request. Riders are renowned for their well-known heroic deeds, such as battlefield valor, but the everyday acts, as well as the dragons themselves., are far less acknowledged. I hope to change this.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> a fantasy writing piece that I've been working on. If there's anything you'd like to see, let me know. post it in the comments or email me at cranewave41@gmail.com

A few things any reader of my story here should know about the dragons in my stories:

  * They communicate through telepathy
  * They are capable of spontaneous magic, but cannot use it on command, only at certain, auspicious moments. The auspicious moments depend on the dragon, and occur annually. 
  * Dragons with Riders have two forms: a truly draconic form, with the wings and four legs, the whole shebang; and a dracohumanoid form, which is humanoid in shape, but still has wings, a tail, horns, and scales, and is the same size as a human. They can switch back and forth with intense concentration, but primarily prefer their fully draconic form. There is no record of any unpartnered dragon having a dracohumanoid form.
  * Dragons always bond with Riders of the opposite sex, with the exception of those bonded to elves
  * Due to a combination of mind-to-mind mental intimacy and shared emotions, as well as the dragons’ ability to take dracohumanoid form, dragons and their riders often end up as lovers, and then mates. 
  * Dragons and humanoids, such as elves, dwarves, humans, orcs, etc. can have children together, and these children are indistinguishable from purebloods of the same race as the female parent, albeit with significantly enhanced magical power. 
  * Dragons fully mature after one year
  * They never stop growing, but the growth rate slows significantly after they fully mature. The oldest dragons can sometimes be mistaken for hills.
  * Some truly ancient dragons have withdrawn into CastCrystal statues through magic and spend their days pondering questions that most wouldn’t know to ask. These statues can speak telepathically due to the resident dragon.




	2. Prologue- a History of Phyre

The mystical world of Phyre has 7 intelligent races. Humans, elves, dwarves, goblins, orcs, giants, and dragons. There are also semi-intelligent races, such as trolls, ogres, faeries, lycanthropes, and others. On top of this, there were animated creatures, such as golems, dullions, and automatons. And don't forget the mystical beasts. Hydras, bugbears, hellhounds, the occasional unicorn. That sort of thing. Long ago, the races were at peace. But that was then. Our story takes place 1,000 years later. After 200 years, the peace fell apart, as Trolls attacked non-troll villages, and the elves, dwarves, and men accused the goblins and orcs. Naturally, the orcs and goblins blamed the men, dwarves, and elves. Only 1 raid was made on the dragons and giants. The trolls who dared attack the dragons were both stupid and eaten. The trollish attack on the giants fared no better. No one dared attack the Ettins, a race of 2 headed giant. The dragons were stronger, and harder to reach, but were attacked first. The trolls thought it a badge of honor to slay a dragon. These raids led to war and unrest in Phyre. A king named Se'ka'tao forged an alliance between the dragons, men, elves, dwarves, and the angels. Ah yes, the angels. In Phyre, there are 2 celestial races, the angels and demons. In most lore, the angels arrived on a planet occupied by sentient beings who didn't know what right and wrong were. They taught the races what Good and Bad were, what's right and what's wrong. Also, they taught them to always do good. Then the demons came. They contacted the primitive, just evolved trolls. The angels had somehow missed the trolls, ogres, and lycanthropes, so they were a good foothold for the demons. The demons then spread their corrupting influence to the goblins and orcs. Men too were touched, as were faeries. Some faeries “fell,” becoming imps. The goblins fell, too, as did the orcs. They didn’t have a fallen state, so they became evil, but they kept the same form. Se’ka’tao united the good men, the elves (who had adhered to the angel’s teachings and despised the demons,) the dwarves, the dragons, and the angels. the giants remained unaffiliated. after 300 years of chaos, as the angels’ allies fought the demons’ allies, the human king, Shur’tagl, and the dragon king, King Valeron, decided to form the Dragon Riders of Phyre in order to bring down the demons. Not long after the war started, the elves retreated into the Mountainwood Forest, where they and the dwarves resided. the dwarves resided in the mountains, and the elves resided in the forest on those mountains. in other words, the elven halls were on top of the dwarven halls. no one will ever know why the elves retreated, for they were more powerful than the humans, and, some say, the dwarves. others say that the elves and dwarves were equal in power, but we’ll never know, as the 2 races never fought. the dragon riders thusly contained only humans and dragons. however, this high-powered police force was not without the elves’ and dwarves’ help. the dwarves had found a hard, adamantine natural mineral that could only be found at the tops of the Mountainwood Peaks. when infusing this element with the spells to create adamant, the dwarves found it became unbreakable. they called this unbreakable element “moonsilver,” and started to forge anvils out of it. around this time, the Dragon Riders were looking for unique weapons so they could deliver justice in a uniquely weaponed way.the dwarves started to forge custom moonsilver weapons for the Dragon Riders. the elves, too, added their support, by making bows. Our stories take place deep within the Golden Age of the Dragon Riders….


	3. The Thundering Skies

The dragon: Styyrke. The Rider: Elder Dan. This was years ago, when i was still an active rider. Styyrke and i were flying over the Goblin territories, specifically the Borwurn Mountains. A storm was brewing, but the Goblins needed our help. They had issues with a wild wyvern, a dragon-like organism that causes many problems, especially in farming areas. They eat livestock and burn crops. The goblins had called on me for help dealing with one, and i wanted to get there as fast as i could, as did Styyrke. In our youth, we arrogantly believed that we could conquer the weather, and bypass the wait of avoiding the storm. How wrong we were. As the clouds closed in, we raced forward towards the mountains, urged on by our determination to reach the goblins. We didn’t stop to consider that the wyvern would also be hiding from the storm, or that if we crashed, the Goblins would be worse off than if we arrived late. None of this crossed our thoughts. We believed that our magic and muscle would allow us to overcome anything. How wrong we were. To this day, i remember our journey as vividly as i see you before me. More vividly than anything i have encountered, before or since. We flew confidently into the storm, me with a spell upon my lips and Styyrke with her muscles churning, trying to gain momentum so he could more easily pass through the storm. We dodged and wove through the mountains, racing towards the stormfront. Then it hit. The first thing was a powerful tailwind that added to our speed, but would have restricted any attempt to go against it. The next thing we hit was the actual stormfront. Rain poured, winds buffeted, lightning flashed, and we were tossed about like a leaf in that storm. Our illusions of control were shattered. I used a spell to deflect the wind, but it lasted for a few seconds before my energy was tapped, and another minute before all the power i had stored over the years, sufficient to level a city, was fully exhausted, such was the power of the storm. There was nothing we could do but pray to the gods that we survived. Pray and hope. Hope and pray. I dared not tap Styyrke’s strength, for she was fully engrossed in surviving the storm. Towering clouds of black and grey unloaded violent tears onto the mountains, along with the two creatures foolish enough to challenge it. Lightning flashed, powerful, brilliant fractures in the maelstrom, far more powerful than even the most elite magician could produce even if they used their full arsenal and tapped their life force. Hail bombarded us like stones, hard enough to snap Styyrke’s bones like dry twigs under an ogre’s foot. My wards held, but Janus knows how long that would last against the fury of the gale. Palaces of vapor dwarfing the largest of the Borwurn mountains with ease formed a ceiling above our heads, their icy arrows bombarding and blustery swords slashing at us, the torrential guards driving us from their masters’ thundering estates. Styyrke was forced to take the brunt of the punishment due to her larger size, her wings like burnished shields of halflings standing against the wrathful maces of giants. Then, a miracle! An overhang that would partially shelter us from the rain. It was slight protection, but anything was welcome. Styyrke angled herself so that we landed underneath the overhang using her last bit of control, and so we landed. Styyrke’s muscles screamed in protest at the further agony of bearing her weight. The overhang expanded back into the cliff, forming a cave that we could take cover in. Once we were deep enough in that the wind didn’t affect us anymore, long after it had become dark enough that humans, orcs, and elves would be unable to see, but a dragon, Rider, or creature of the underground could see, we saw a faint pink glimmer. I readied my sword, and Styyrke held back due to her injuries, and advanced towards the light. As i rounded the corner, the light grew brighter and resolved into… a softly glowing, heart-shaped stone. I used the last of my magic: an Analysis Gauntlet, an item designed to detect the purpose of spells and enchanted items. As always, the intuition on the item’s magic capabilities washed into my mind, and i saw that the heartrock was a naturally occurring, wild magic healing item. It had the capabilities of a powerful healing spell, and had a bit more magic than was necessary to heal Styyrke, but would take 17 hours to recharge fully from expending all its magic. I took the heartrock back to Styyrke, and used it. She was restored to full health, but was still tired. The storm still raged, so Styyrke moved further into the cave that we had discovered. The wind howled, stormy wolves complaining that they could not reach their prey, the golden dragon and her proud rider hiding in their cave, like a rabbits in a burrow. While we waited out the storm, Styyrke and i debated names for the heartstone; glow-heal-rock, Healstone, and Healglow were all discarded. We eventually agreed on HealHeart. The HealHeart had some energy left from healing Styyrke, so she suggested i use it to heal myself of the scrapes and bruises from the hail, which i did. Hours later, once we had discussed many new and better wards i could cast around both of us, the storm eased. Styyrke was back to 100%, but i was still injured. I used the Analysis Gauntlet to check the time until the HealHeart was back at full power, approximately 12 hours, meaning that 5 hours had passed since i’d healed Styyrke. With the wind dying down, we prepared to fly to the Goblins, to help them with their Wyvern problem. The Legend of the Goblin Drake tells the rest of the tale.


	4. Journey to the Lonely Peak

The Rider: Sheil. The Dragon: Jaccodja

 

Many years ago, there was a mountain that overlooked the Joljjn Valley of the Gnolls. The peak was destroyed during the battle of Blade’s Earth, in which enough magic was released to destroy the land, if it weren’t for the ability of the Lonely Peak, the mountain that loomed above Blade’s Earth, to absorb extra magic, that’s what might have happened. However, a piece of CastCrystal large enough to absorb the full power of the Eastian Mage Society. The power unleashed in that battle was more than enough to overload it. Power flowed from the spells into the CastCrystal until no more power could flow in, and the crystal exploded, the sheer power from all the gathered spells in that area throughout history blasting out, shifting the mountain out of existence entirely, the space where it once stood ceasing to exist. 

The battle record can be found in the legend The Battle of Blade’s Earth, in most archives. However, what few people know is that the mountain was not destroyed, but shifted out of our plane of existence. It is still found in all other planes, and is accessible through these planes. Additionally, there was an ancient keep on that mountain, the Hall of Kressh the Elder, a large affair that contained the Gauntlet of Kressh the Younger, an artifact that could allow a dragon and Rider to co-exist in the same body. This is a unique ability, created not by Kressh, but by his dragon as the Rider was dying. The Gauntlet is able to create the barriers between the minds that prevent insanity, the only known instance in which a spell like this has been successful. The Lonely Peak, the mountain that was banished from our realm, had no buildings on it, save the keep, so no lives were lost in the banishment. The keep was situated above the massive piece of CastCrystal, with wards erected so that only a Dragon Rider situated within the keep could access its power. When the keep, and the mountain, were transported out of our realm, the wards remained, as they were attached to the crystal. This allowed the wards to remain with the crystal.

Oh! You don’t know how CastCrystal works, do you? Well, that’s easily remedied. CastCrystal is a type of natural Magical material with the unique ability to absorb and retain magical energy to be used later. Dragon bones contain traces of CastCrystal, which allows them to tap into the gem. Only Dragon Riders can use energy in CastCrystal, as dragons are required to tap the energy. The amount of energy a piece can hold is directly proportionate to the size of the crystal. The crystals can come in many sizes, from the size of a marble to the size of a shield, and some of the pieces are of such massive size that they attract magical energy like a magnet. 

Anyway, so the wards still surround the giant piece of CastCrystal, therefore it can only be accessed from the keep, by a rider friendly to the Kressh family. The gauntlet was ensconced in wards fueled by the CastCrystal that could only be deactivated via a mental communication with the Crystal. Communing with the crystal was only possible for a dragon, and retrieving the gauntlet required a Rider. But even then, it is complicated to retrieve, primarily now that getting there is the hardest part. And the trip through the realm to get there is very difficult and dangerous, filled with deadly ethereal creatures, immune to many spells and all physical impacts and attacks. Only shadow and light spells can affect such beasts, unless a spell is channeled through the Ethereal Mirror, an object enchanted to aid in such encounters. Therefore, the journey was deadly for even the most adept caster. Jaccodja and i flew back to the headquarters of the Dragon Riders, where we prepared for the journey, in which we would lead a squadron of Riders into the etherplane. As the leader of the quest, I was given the Ethereal Mirror so my spells could affect the creatures of the etherplane. Once our squad was prepared, the portal was opened, and we plunged through. Right into a slaughter. Phantom Hounds were swarming around, fighting with a group of acolytes. The acolytes slung shadow spells at the Phantom Hounds, but, being creatures of darkness, the hounds were less affected by the spells than most creatures would be. They instead absorbed the shadows, enabling them to heal any wounds that the acolytes dealt by chance of hitting a corporeal spot. The hounds were clearly overpowering the acolytes, and they were pressing the advantage. The acolytes were of the Duskera Order, which was dedicated to the use of shadow magic and ghost items to conquer the etherplane. They stand in opposition to the riders’ mission to free all oppressed creatures. Conquest was against the way of the riders. The acolytes and the hounds would exterminate each other, except that the acolytes were so low leveled that they couldn’t cause any injuries. I made an executive decision: to help the acolytes as the hounds were focused on them, and would be easier to defeat. The acolytes would be battered and defeated, and would retreat rather than challenge us, who had vanquished the hounds. I gave the order to charge. My squadron of riders charged into battle, light spells blazing, and vanquished half the Phantom Hounds before any could react. The remainder of the hounds turned on us, and the acolytes stopped casting their spells. The phantom hounds were soon dispatched, and the acolyte leader came up to talk to us. He claimed that they had been rejected by the order, and that they had been sentenced to death by etherplane. They had banded together, and would have used other spells if they knew any. They asked if we could help them get back to the real world, so i called the base for a portal. They were sent through and to the Rider Citadel, where they would hopefully be helped. We continued on our way. We passed many hollows and glens, some empty, some not. We fought fewer ethereal beings than expected, and made it to the Citadel without losing any riders or dragons. There our good luck ended. We found the keep, and a strange creature emerged, a dark shadow that seemed to undulate like a Serpent Dragon. It emerged, and it flew towards us. We braced ourselves, and readied spells to harm it if it seemed hostile. It attacked us with a shadowfire spell, and a rider fell. His partner dragon roared in pain and grief, and she shot towards the flying shade, howling her fury even as cobalt flames poured like a river from her maw. The shade recoiled, but just as quickly snapped at the dragon, steel-trap jaws snipping the grief-ridden beast in half. The rest of us poured fire and light at the Serpentine Shadow. Much to my dismay, few spells hit the amphorous form, and those that did hit didn’t seem to do much. The only spells that dealt significant damage were my lightning spells, and even those dealt little. Few of the bolts hit, but the advantage was that even grazing the shade would deliver the full power of the attack. I ordered the rest of the squadron, now minus another 2 dragons and their riders, to use lightning spells. Strangely, the lightning affected the creature despite the normal shade restrictions. And yet we were able to chase off the spectre and enter the castle, with 6 of the ten pairs of journeyers still alive. We entered the castle, and i withdrew the tome i had been given at the Rider castle. “Be careful, there are many traps, both magical and physical, activated since the death of Kressh The Younger.” A few seconds later, another of the riders was lost to a psychic assault on her mind. No exclamation, no warning, just a flash of light and the once-living bodies of dragon and rider slumped silently to the ground. They were behind us, and no one would have noticed except for the fact that we kept in touch with our minds. They suddenly vanished from my pathic awareness. Our medics, an elf and young green dragon known as Sylff and Syoon, went back to check, using an analytical spell to check their vitals. As Sylff continued to look over the fallen rider and dragon, Syoon looked up and shook her head. “They’re gone. We have no idea what killed them, as the autopsy showed no change in body chemicals or makeup from when they were alive. No heart attack, nothing. I’m sorry, maybe if this weren’t Sylff’s and my first mission, we--” i cut her off. I understood completely, and got the feeling that any healer, no matter how experienced, would be just as mystified. “I think i got it,” shy Sylff spoke up. “They were ended by a mental attack. No physical harm, no chemical agents, no magical attack. Just communication to base parts of the brain, telling them to stop working: the heart to stop beating, the organs to stop functioning, etc. Ingenious, really.” She pushed up her spectacles, and Syoon moved closer. 

I told the others to stay close to me, and looked at the map in the tome i carried. It was probably incomplete, and i would have to lead carefully, or else none of us would survive. Despite the fact that the map was almost definitely incomplete, there were many traps. So we advanced carefully, and used detection spells on our surroundings. For the millionth time, i wished i had the zodialuna map, a relic with the ability to portray the surroundings of the user with extreme detail, even showing hidden dangers and the movements of living or undead beings. An extremely useful relic, that. We found our way to the central antechamber losing another member in the process, where we found a bookshelf, the Gauntlet, and a pearl re-creation of a dragon’s skeleton. We approached the gauntlet with apprehension, not knowing what traps the ancient Riders may have set. Using her detection spell, the last Dragon in our party besides Syoon and Jaccodja observed that the floor and walls were free of traps, and that only the Gauntlet itself had any spells on it: a necromancy spell. The floor was solid stone, as were the walls, and there were no skeletons around, human, goblin, orc, dwarf, elf, or of any other humanoid race. Her Rider reached forward and grabbed the Gauntlet, and was instantly incinerated. The fireblast had not been a spell, but Dragonfyre, a type of inferno only produced by dragons, unreplicatable. We looked around, the dragon, Jaccodja, myself, Syllf, and Syoon, to see the pearl dragon skeleton standing and leering at us. 

“But-but-but, that shouldn’t be possible!” I stuttered, “that would require an animation spell, not a  _ re _ -animation spell!”  _ unless, _ Jaccodja added,  _ that isn’t a statue. _

“You mean that’s an actual dragon’s skeleton?!” Syllf exclaimed.  _ We’re going to fight an  _ **_undead dragon?!_ ** Syoon shouted.  _ Yes.  _ Jaccodja replied, exasperated.

A fatal wound now marred our companion’s throat, as she had engaged the undead in order to avenge her rider. The skeletal Wyrm was still fighting, despite some of the bones in its spine and neck being cracked, and two of its ribs pulverized. I shouted a force spell, called upon power from Jaccodja, and cast the mighty blast. It pulverized the creature’s (i decided to call it a Lichwyrm) skull. The lichwyrm was rendered unable to use its dragonfyre blasts, but not stopping it. Syoon and Jaccodja leapt forward, challenging the lichwyrm with dragonfyre blasts of their own. Syllf sprinted to see if the dragon could be healed. Despite her shyness, that elf cares about her patients and teammates. Meanwhile i sprinted to retrieve the gauntlet. The other Rider had not been able to extricate it from its pedestal. I wanted to get it before the other dragon died, as then we would have to face 2 lichwyrms instead of 1. I got the gauntlet with seconds to spare. The dragons killed the lichwyrm, and Syllf looked up. Her patient hadn’t made it. I used a portalstone to create a portal from the stronghold to the Riders’ citadel. Mission Bloody Accomplished!

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a myth that I wrote for the Goblin tribes of the Plainslands

This is a myth passed down through the Goblin tribes in the land of Phyre. So many myths and superstitions have emerged that I find it impossible to keep up with them. However, the Giant’s Heart myth I find particularly interesting. It goes something like this:

Before Creation, there was only a world of fire and crystal. The sky was made of smoke, the waters of boiling fire. The earth was made of gems: the forests of amber and emerald, the mountains of jade and the beaches of obsidian. The world, Gobysk, was harshly beautiful. And on the topaz plainslands of Gobysk wandered a tribe of Immortals. The Old One, their elder, led the Immortals through the sculpted stalks of golden grasses, aided by his son, The Masked One, and his daughter, The Teasing One, in keeping the other Immortals alive. There was The Golden One, master of metals and greed, The Dancing One, patron goddess of trickster and performer alike, The Painted One, deity of artwork and chaos, and The Silent One, god of Revenge. The Old One was the god of knowledge and wisdom, learning and Lore, while The Masked One was the god of the hunt, and his sister, The Teasing One, was the goddess of love and happiness. 

As the Immortals wandered the plainslands in their perpetual travel, they came across a goddess, Elvish in appearance, who was battling a Giant. As they watched, the Giant killed the goddess, and claimed from her her raven hair. Enraged, The Old One ordered The Masked One to avenge the strange goddess, and The Masked One complied. Charging forward with his spear in hand, The Masked One cried a challenge, and as the Giant turned to meet him, ran the vile creature through the stomach, killing him. Using his knife, The Masked One cut from the Giant’s chest his heart, and presented it to The Old One. They continued to wander, but the seven Immortals found that they had no more companions in the fields, and grew discontented. And so, from the heart of the slain Giant, The Old One created Phyre, and so great was the joy of the Immortals, that they cried glowing tears. From these tears, the Stars formed, and arranged themselves in the patterns we know today: the Hunter, armed with his mighty spear, the Spiral, and the Wings. From the jewels and gems around them, the other Immortals created Goblins and all manner of creatures, creatures great and small, and each created an animal sacred to them. From the great brown jewels of the earth, The Masked One created boars, creatures that the Goblins could hunt for sport and feed on for sustenance. The Dancing One created the slim wraiths, so that she could forever dance in their company. The Teasing One created the songbird, that she and all the creatures of Phyre may wake up to the beautiful sound of the Song she taught them. The Golden One created the fox, a crafty and creative creature much like himself, that would help to balance the world. The Painted One created monkeys, sending them forth to show the Goblins the value of games. The Old One created the ibis and the owl, contemplative creatures that would sometimes approach the Goblins and utter prophecies, revealing glimpses of the future and of magicks. It is from them that the Goblin Shamans learned. And The Silent One, the most observant of the Immortals, created wolves, so that the Goblins would have a creature to compete with. Thus our shamans tell us, and thus the Immortals tell them.


	6. Encountering the Eskos

{} indicates the dragon speaking.

The rider: Ikusa. The dragon: Shrike.

Before you hear the story, you must hear about the creatures I discovered while working at the outpost Frozen Spire in the northern mountains that surround the polar hinterlands. Eskos are little creatures with blue skin, always wear brown parkas with white fur, black gloves, and black boots. They are about 2 feet tall and stack together to allow them to get up to 30 ft in the air. They have no machines more advanced than a mechanical pulley. They live solely in the north pole, in the hinterlands of Phyre. They speak a language of syllables known as Ji, and although they understand the common tongue, they never speak it themselves.

They live on the North Polar plateau, not far from Frozen Spire. To be honest, I’m amazed that I was the first one to encounter them. {Ahem} Sorry, _we_ were the first ones to encounter them. We were flying a northern patrol when a sudden blizzard blew us off course. It blew hard and furious, and we had to seek shelter.  We saw lights, and assumed we had been blown to a southern settlement, so began to descend. When we were close enough to the ground that we could make out details, we learned that we were over a village that, on all maps and charts, did not exist. We swept down a bit further to take a look. {Ikusa thought maybe it was a ruin with magical lights left over from when it was occupied, but it was clear that it was a populated village, albeit one that did not use or, perhaps, did not _have_ fire, as the lights were more consistent than what fire would produce.} Yes, Shrike, you pointed that out to me after I speculated. Now, may I continue? {...yes} Thank you. Anyway, once we had determined that the village was populated {by seeing a blueberry in a parka run between buildings} we flew down and landed, finding that the _blue skinned people_ {harumph} were friendly, but primitive. They did not use fire or magic, and they did not have any machines more advanced than a pulley. Instead, they stacked themselves in a pyramidal fashion, allowing them to reach up to 30 feet in the air. Due to this, they were able to create shelters with multiple stories, and had constructed a wall around their village. Instead of having fire or some magically created source of artificial light, the Eskos had lanterns made using a phosphorescent crystalline mineral, which emitted a soft glow that could, depending on the lantern, range anywhere from white to pale blue to pale aquamarine. These lanterns were heavily prevalent in their village, as they provided the only light the Eskos had during the winter, except for between 11 am and 1 pm. I used an analytical spell to confirm that the crystals had no magic, and took a few lanterns back with me to Frozen Spire to help light the outpost during the long winter months when I left the village. I also learned that the Eskos were herbivores, and that they kept herb gardens stocked with a plant known in Ji as chaja, and what I’ve named in Common as frostnut, a plant that produces edible blue-grey nuts highly packed with nutrition. The Eskos have created several recipes with these nuts, including a curious blue bread that tastes strangely of quinoa. They supplement these nuts with tubers, vegetables and herbs that grow alongside the frostnut plants in the arctic gardens they have created. They have no liqueur, nor do they have any intoxicating substances that I know of. They also seemed to revere Shrike as a deity, and happily gave him permission to hunt. {I don’t need permission from the natives to feed myself.} Yes but it’s polite to ask. Now please be quiet. I would like to continue. {very well. Go ahead.} Thank you.

We spent 2 days with the Eskos, during which time the blizzard raged. A locator spell on us allowed the riders back at Frozen Spire to tell that we were alive, but none of them came looking for us. It would have been madness to try to fly in that storm. Shrike spent most of his time in his humanoid form, as his being in his quadrupedal form would have resulted in him being unable to fit inside a house. As it was, he was grumpy at being in {a cramped, precarious, grounded form.} Yes, thank you, Shrike. What he said. While it meant he was uncomfortable, the arrangement had the advantage of me spending time with the dracohumanoid form of my lover. The Eskos did not need any warmth, and allowed their homes to mimic the temperature of the outside. Shrike and I, however, needed fire. We requested a private room, where we kept a fire burning. When outside the room, we wore the winter robes I always kept with me when we were at Frozen Spire. After two days, the other Dragon Riders found us, right as we were preparing to take off, and the rest is history.


End file.
